rushley & crew

Dear Ada, Today was a good day :) You were happy and smiley and so much fun, like usual. I spent some time playing with you and some time working on things next to you. I finally wasn't being consumed by the stress of getting you to nap and I was just enjoying you :) But the best part of the day was after putting you down for bed. Daylight Savings just happened, so we're working on transitioning you back to a 7:30 bedtime. We were just going to move bedtime by 15 minutes each night, but you were fussy so we tried to just put you down at 7:30 -- 45 minutes earlier than yesterday. You were not a fan. After letting you cry (hard) for a few minutes, I went up to see if you had a stuck burp or something. Although you had been fussy and rubbing your eyes before we laid you down for the night, you now seemed completely awake; however, I wasn't just going to let you get up and play because we'd already done your whole bedtime routine. So instead I just held you, all swa...

In the LDS church, babies are given a blessing, usually by their fathers, sometime in the first few months of their life. These blessings differ from a christening or baptism. They have a few purposes: 1. To give the baby a name by which they will be known on the records of the church; 2. To give the child a blessing as directed by the Spirit.  On January 8, 2017, Ada was given a name and a blessing by her dad. While the voice for the blessing is only one person (Russ in Ada's case), you can invite worthy priesthood holders to join the circle. Russ and I chose to only invite immediate family members (our dads, brothers, and brothers-in-law), one cousin (Luis, who couldn't make it), and one friend (Rob Holt). We wanted to keep it small, and we wanted to invite people who are really important in our lives and in Ada's. The most unfortunate event surrounding Ada's blessing was that her Papa T (Russ's dad) wasn't able to take part because he didn't make ...

I've mentioned my involvement in the cultural celebration a few times on the blog, but now that it's all over, I wanted to take some time to write about all the things I thought about and felt throughout the experience. It's difficult to write about, because so much of it is just feelings, and the feelings feel personal. Guess that's the trouble with a public blog that also serves as a personal journal haha :) +     Youth are so cool. They are fun and pure and wonderful. I had SO much fun working with them every week. I loved seeing them work hard and improve. I loved seeing their bright smiles that could light up their whole face. I also loved the healthy amount of teasing that went back and forth between us all. It felt like a little family sometimes :) After every Tuesday rehearsal, we'd all dance to the Electric Slide together, and it was so fun! These kids just all have such great personalities and it was fun to get to know them through this experience. +...

Exercise and I, we've never been friends. I'm just not one of those people who loves to work out. This is why I have to find things that are fun for other reasons. Throughout high school, it was dance because I love to perform and I love hanging out with friends. In college, I did zumba as often as I could find a good class because it basically gave me the same perks as dance. After marrying Russ, I adopted running (because he likes running), but had to make it better by having a running buddy or listening to good music. But lately, I hadn't been doing much of anything. So then I decided I was going to start hiking the Y every day. It's a kinda steep hike, so if you only do it every once in a while, it's pretty hard. In past times of hiking it, I'd have to pause at a lot of the switchbacks to catch my breath. But I started doing that, and have been doing it mostly every day for about 2.5 weeks. The hike has gotten a lot easier, and I can now do the whol...

So my birthday has now come and gone and my 23 before 23 goals are supposed to be complete. I only finished 17, but I still feel good about that. I have a whole other post planned to talk more about the actual list , but I still have three tasks to post about, so I'll do one today: Do work in all the temples in Utah. I don't always talk about my faith in blog posts, but it is definitely a big part of my life. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , informally known as the Mormon church. We believe in God and we believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. We believe in the eternal nature of families--that is, we believe that families can be together forever, even after death. We believe in loving and serving others. And really, we believe in a lot of great things, so if you want to learn more, feel free to ask me any questions or visit the FAQ section on  mormon.org .  One thing that sets my church apart from many other churches are the temples . We ...

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to write a blog post on Mormon marriage, more specifically on our tendencies for a short courtship and engagement. Since this is actually something I'm kind of passionate about, I'm obliging her now :) **The following reflects my personal experience and opinions coupled with my observations. I do not claim to be laying down any sort of Mormon doctrine for short courtship/engagement, though some of what I share will be doctrine. My first date with Russ until the day I married him covered about six months. The first time I met Russ until the day I married him covered about ten months. Such a short courtship and even such a short friendship sounds like a foreign concept to those who date for at least a year, if not three to five years, right? But to me, dating for so long is the foreign concept. Mormons believe that " marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for t...